09 January 2007

From Today's New York Times

To the Editor:

It’s good to know that Verlyn Klinkenborg is among those of us who stop to help tortoises on their way on a busy road (“Edges and Order,” The Rural Life, Jan. 1).

I have done that, and afterward felt at least virtuous if not godlike. But not long ago on a lonely road in northern Connecticut, I stopped to administer similar compassion, only to be stoutly rebuffed by a vicious snapping turtle that refused to be helped. I confess that I felt a certain animosity toward the reptile, and have yet to decide whether I will help his or her cousins in the future.

Robert Longley
Salisbury, Conn., Jan. 2, 2007

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